I need help researching how Kansas ranks as a state nationally compared to other states in wrestling. It will help settle a debate between my friend and I. I must preface my friend doesn't like wrestling...all his kids are basketball players, and my family is the opposite. Anyway he has relation in Minnesota and claims that their wrestling is far superior to Kansas...mainly he is trying to downplay any of my sons accomplishments here in Kansas wrestling. I was just wondering if there is an article of something out there that ranks the states based on national performance. And I may be wrong and Minnesota is way ahead of Kansas. Thanks for you help.

Our Basketball isn't the best either. Unless you count the universities that have mostly out of state kids? Are you looking for High School figures H.S and below or below H.S.? Basketball is best where populations are the most.
I saw something once where Kansas ranked 6th in wrestling participation, I'm thinking across all ages?

Currently the top 3 University wrestling programs have:
Penn State 26 out of 35 from PA. OKSTATE 15 out of 39 from OK 4 from KS Minn. 17 out of 37 are from MN.
If you include OU you pick up 2 more Kansans one a Nat. Champ.

I know at duals when we have Minnesota our boys know they have a battle on there hands.

High school or youth doesn't matter. They should correlate with each other. He just made Kansas sound like a bottom feeder and Minnesota sound like a world beater. At the time I didn't respond to him because I didn't have any facts.

Sounds like you need a new friend Greendog

Last year AAU midle school duals

Gold Bracket Results
Guaranteed Places
1st Place - Ohio Grapplers Scarlet
2nd Place - Iowa Black
3rd Place - Minnesota Storm
4th Place - Missouri Storm
5th Place - Montana Grizzlies
6th Place - Iowa Gold
7th Place - Kansas Tin Man
8th Place - Panhandle Extreme
1st Place Match
Ohio Grapplers Scarlet defeated Iowa Black 57-18.
3rd Place Match
Minnesota Storm defeated Missouri Storm 42-37.
5th Place Match
Montana Grizzlies defeated Iowa Gold 48-37.
7th Place Match
Kansas Tin Man defeated Panhandle Extreme 67-30.

Elementary Duals few years ago

Gold Bracket Results
Guaranteed Places
1st Place - Minnesota Gold
2nd Place - South Dakota Red
3rd Place - Iowa White
4th Place - Iowa Red
5th Place - Illinois Gold
6th Place - Kansas Coyotes
7th Place - Minnesota Maroon
8th Place - Illinois Silver
1st Place Match
Minnesota Gold defeated South Dakota Red 43-30.
3rd Place Match
Iowa White defeated Iowa Red 50-21.
5th Place Match
Illinois Gold defeated Kansas Coyotes 46-35.
7th Place Match
Minnesota Maroon defeated Illinois Silver 50-27.

Silver Bracket Results
Guaranteed Places
1st Place - Iowa Blue
2nd Place - Nebraska White Lightning
3rd Place - Missouri United
4th Place - Kansas Bucks
5th Place - Missouri Central
6th Place - Nebraska Red Bulls
7th Place - Minnesota White
8th Place - North Dakota Blizzards
1st Place Match
Iowa Blue defeated Nebraska White Lightning 65-18.
3rd Place Match
Missouri United defeated Kansas Bucks 45-21.
5th Place Match
Missouri Central defeated Nebraska Red Bulls 55-23.
7th Place Match
Minnesota White defeated North Dakota Blizzards 60-27.

Bronze Bracket Results
Guaranteed Places
1st Place - Kansas Bobcats
2nd Place - North Dakota Twisters
3rd Place - South Dakota Blue
4th Place - Nebraska Blue Crushers
5th Place - Alternate 1
6th Place - Alternate 2
7th Place - South Dakota White

School Boy Greco Duals 2 yrs ago

Guaranteed Places
1st Place - Illinois G
2nd Place - Washington G
3rd Place - Pennsylvania Blue G
4th Place - Team Wisconsin G
5th Place - Minnesota 1 G
6th Place - Team Ohio G
7th Place - Indiana Gold G
8th Place - Team Kansas G

Frestyle
POOL A Results
Guaranteed Places
1st Place - Team Ohio F
2nd Place - Minnesota 1 F
3rd Place - Michigan F
4th Place - Team Kansas F
5th Place - Indiana Blue F
6th Place - Team Florida F
7th Place - Delaware F
8th Place - NC Blue F

These are of course dual, that is another discussion that a great dual team may or may not tell the whole story.

These are just ones that I pullled up that I knew my sone was on some of these teams and could find them fast.

Minnesota is typically pretty dang tough in those dula tournaments, they also have a littel different outlook on them also.

Ks teams just finished state and most weren't (cutting or managing their weight) as much as during the season.

Minnesota is the opposite of that from my conversations I had with some of their parents.

You have to remember that the teams that Minnesota is bring to the middles school duals are kids that have been wrestling in HS rooms for a year or two.

If you look historically, there are some power states when it comes to kids and high school wrestling. Just from past experience rankings over the years and my personal opinions. To me if you asked this question 10 years ago I would say that Kansas was very week, but Kansas wrestling has been on a huge upswing in talent in the last 10 years. I believe because there are most likely more kids competing, more coaches giving valuable time, and a greater effort put in to make the kids in this state elite. I wouldn't rank Minnesota much higher than Kansas today.

Historically to me there has always been a top 4 for wrestling states and depending on the year they could be flip flopped.
Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, Oklahoma. To me Oklahoma is no longer one of the top 4 but they are still very tough.
Then you have had a 2nd tier of very tough wrestling states
Illinois, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota.

Now every state produces elite wrestlers, some just a lot more than others.

To me states on the rise and probably now in that 2nd tier as well. Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Florida, Missouri, Michigan and Oregon.

The real bottom line is it is all subject to opinion, and it changes year after year. To me Kansas wrestling has nothing to be ashamed of and is only getting better and better. Year in and year out I would expect all our Kansas boys to be able to compete with and beat any one from any state. Until we see more Kansas kids on Division 1 college rosters and All Americans year in and year out, they will not get the full respect they are due, but I believe that day is coming soon.

I agree with @HokeaheyCoach...no friend I know undermines my child's accomplishments.

I would say KS is far from a bottom feeder, mainly due to the results we have against many states. It's hard to measure at the kids level because the nationals level tournaments because of the club level registration.

If you look at the Cadet & Junior level results for FS/GR be it duals or at Fargo; Minnesota was consistently higher than Kansas last year.

If that is an indication, you could say they are better...but as always there is more to the story.

Look at their Fargo participation, it's far higher (2x-3x higher) than we have in KS. Their population is about 3x of ours so I guess that makes sense.

The only thing to go on I find is how you end up in a tournament or dual and MN was above us on pretty much all cases, epseically when we consider their "A" team (they bring multiple dual teams) vs. ours.

Another option is to look at how many AA's each state produce at these levels but I'll leave that to someone else that want's to collect that data.

Not only that but have pretty tough guidlines to make the dual teams. KS does wrestle for spots (both MS and elementary) but those kids usually wrestle at close to their walk around weight most of the time.

Our Schoolboy Dual freestyle team finished ahead of MN last summer, as we took 4th nationally. On average, I would rate KS as a top 10 or 15 state overall, but we are also small in population, which has to also be considered. It is just not apples for apples to go up against Ohio, IL or PN, as they are way bigger in size. Man for man, we are tough. This team beat MO, OK, IA, CO, so we do have some bragging rights.

Tom Williams

I wouldnt worry about it. In my opinion wrestling will do more for kids than basketball ever will for his.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevecooper/2012/07/31/why-wrestlers-make-the-best-employees/

just to throw some gas on the fire, Team Kansas made Team Minnesota QUIT during a dual in Juniors around 2005

... and I just happen to be wearing that years sweatshirt, one of my favorites! It was 2005 ... one of my fondest memories! A bunch of wrestlers who are among the best, Kansas has ever offered! There are so many classic stories of that years team!